Why are there flags to enable Precise Strike Finisher AND Precise Strike damage?
 

I'm using a swashbuckler for the first time and am trying to understand why it works in HLO the way that it does.

Once you have panache and turn that on, you then have to turn on Precise Strike Damage or Precise Strike Finisher Damage. You should always do Precise Strike damage if you're using a weapon that qualifies, except when you're using a Finisher and get the increased Precise Strike Damage.

What's rules case is solved by having to turn on Precise Strike Damage manually? Shouldn't it be applied anytime there is panache, unless overridden by turning on Precise Strike Finisher Damage?

This is a pretty minor inconvenience, but the three extra taps every time you gain panache does get irritating.

HLO doesn't know if you're attacking something that's immune to Precision damage, like an amorphous or incorporeal creature. You might want to turn them off then.

this is the answer to why it's not always-on.

however, you are going to be applying the damage in the vast majority of cases. so it would be nice if it were checked by default, and turning it OFF required unchecking the box. would save a lot of unnecessary clicks/server pings.

At a minimum, it should be checked by default.

This isn't the behavior anywhere else, though. HLO doesn't know if I'm attacking something that's immune to Fire damage, but it doesn't make me toggle a Flaming Rune on for every attack.

Rogues have a toggle, but HLO has no way to know if the enemy is flat-footed so that makes more sense.

Edit to add: I am realizing I only have to turn this on once for a given character, since Precise Strike Finisher Damage overrides it when turned on. So one can turn it on and leave it on, and the setting persists after you turn off Panache (but the bonus damage isn't included when Panache is off).

So this is a really, really minor QOL enhancement, but I still think it should be toggled on by default.

Seems a reasonable desire to have it on by default, since it will be on in the majority of cases.

As for why it is a toggle, I assume it was built like sneak attack, so has similar activations. Normally I think we'd always apply the base damage to applicable weapons if you have Panache, and only have an activation for the Finisher damage since it's circumstantial. Hmm, I'll get this logged myself rather than the usual support ticket since it's a case I want to lay out specific details for, and we'll have to do some investigation about if it should be changed. Thanks for noting this!

I did put in a ticket as a feature request, if you want to look for it and merge it or whatever you do in whatever ticketing system you use. Thanks!

All good, putting in a support ticket is always helpful, and usually easier to get it logged and sorted that way. This particular case I wanted to get some extra handling info on for our reference that Ryan wouldn't be aware of, but I'll merge the ticket in once it gets to us.